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Saturday, December 12, 2015

Volunteers are Awesome: They Change the World

Thank God for volunteers. They change
the world. I’m completely serious right now. God bless
volunteers. What would we do without them? Well, I imagine we’d
do a lot less.

I’ve often wondered at what I could do in the world
with 10 good men. Or 10 good women. Imagine what a church can do
with 10 good volunteers? It changes everything. It’s no longer a
minister or two against the world. Its a team, then an army, and pretty soon a movement!

Lay ministers, lay staff, as they
call them are real game changers. It changes an impact from hundreds
to tens of thousands. There’s a crisis of volunteers I think. I
work in the Salvation Army, and at our corps we generally have good
amounts of volunteers. Well, it depends on the corp. The corp I
work at is blessed with a lot of volunteers. But none of them are
under fifty. That’s just a fact.

Millennials like myself are hard
to coral into a community, or into doing free work. Volunteering is
essentially working and helping for free. Millennials aren’t too
concerned with being in community, despite the growing and intense
loneliness expressed by those who spend a great deal of time on
social media. Let me suggest to millennials: Be part of a community.
Make a commitment, good times and bad, to be a part of something
greater than yourself.

Choose wisely. Of course I’m going to
suggest the Salvation Army in your area! Why not? Salvation Army
takes Christianity to the extreme. And we millennials are often
extreme. We want to do things that have meaning. It’s not
extravagant, packing boxes and hauling carts full of food, but it’s
more meaningful than all the videogames, social media, nights at the
bar, and party events combined.

Change the world. That’s what
your always saying millennials, so do it. Do it the nitty gritty
real way, by working hard in the thankless role of the volunteer.
Nobody is going to toot your horn when you’re a volunteer, well,
aside from me.

Volunteers change the world. I love
volunteers. Watching volunteers work hard, day and night is the most
encouraging thing. I want to cry when I see them, because they are
so wonderful.

Yet even if millennials aren’t
willing to grow up and step into charity service, church service, and
food pantry volunteering don’t worry, they’ll still end up in the
same place. We regularly receive volunteers from the county jail and
from young people on probation! So either way, young adults end up
at the pantry sorting goods. Either they come to volunteer, or they
come to get out of the jail for a few hours. I prefer volunteers,
but either way it'll happen. Young adults will have to find a way to grow up and become
a part of community, or they can remain children behind bars. It’s
a conundrum.

I’ve found it very rewarding to
engage in community. I never did in the past. I thought it was
stupid and I preferred to be on my computer or playing videogames.
Yet when I cleaned up and found Jesus, I began to enjoy community and
fellowship. I slowly stepped back into the world. I slowly became a
part of community, even though it was at times difficult and
strenuous. Often it was so difficult to deal with personalities and
annoying people that I almost withdrew again. But I stuck it out.
The benefits of long term friendships and relationships far outweighs
the pains of disagreements, conflicts, and annoyances.

Thank God for volunteers. They change
the world. Without volunteers charities couldn’t function.
Without volunteers food pantries would be empty. And I could say the
same for donors, who are so generous in the United States. They give
so much and it’s wonderful to see. It’s amazing to see
businesses stand for the good of the community. It’s crushed much
of my own pessimism in life, seeing the generosity of so many toward
our causes.

I never really cared about charity,
about religious organizations, and really about much of anything to
do with civilized society. I just wanted to have fun. Today, after
meeting Jesus I’m in love with non-profits, religious charities and
organizations that generously serve their communities through
donations. And most of all I’m in love with volunteers who take
time outside of their work schedules to serve causes they believe in.

As much as I talked big in the past about wanting to help the world
and save the world, I could never manage to step into a non-profit
and volunteer my time. Isn’t that interesting? As much as I sat
around smoking pot and philosophizing about the latest liberal hope
for humanity, I never really did anything about it. Now that I know
Jesus, I do it unto the Lord. And I know it matters.

Thank God for volunteers. They change
the world, when so many talk big but don’t deliver, they actually
step forward and do the work. Are you called to volunteer your time?
It doesn’t have to be 15-30 hours a week. You could volunteer 1
hour a week, or even 1 hour a month. I’m calling on all people,
most importantly young adults and millennials to break the
selfishness mold in our culture and volunteer in meaningful ways in our
communities. Be the change in the world. Do it for the Lord. Take
care, God bless you, amen.

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This is a personal blog. The views on this blog do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Salvation Army, it's employees, or partners. The views on this blog are solely of those making them, based on the teachings of the Bible, in the Spirit.